There are many articles about how to build links, some of them provide good information but some of them raise more questions about quality of links and “white hat” SEO strategies. Of course, it is risky and not efficient to submit site in hundreds directories or exchange links with other webmaster. We decided to provide as many good strategies to build links as possible, most of this strategies we use providing SEO services to our clients.

1. Submission in niche directories is an easy way to increase amount of links from related sites especially when your competitors already listed there. Some good niche directories you can find on DirectoryCritic niche directory list but be careful because Directory Critic approves a lot of spammy and low quality directories.
2. Find bloggers with related blogs, subscribe for their feeds, comment, and follow them in social networks. It takes a lot of time and efforts to become real friends in blogosphere but it will benefit your business with more publicity and visibility. Many bloggers link their friend from blog posts or help in social media by Tweeting, bookmarking, and talking about your business and services.
3. Sign up with the most popular social sites and add your link in profile. Be active, don’t just go to create hundreds profiles. Pick only popular and topic related social sites. Example: if you are a doctor you can use popular healthy living and environment www.Care2.com site to contribute knowledge and information.
4. Participate in forums and discussions sharing information with other members. Put link in signature and profile page. Again, use only several topic related forums and become a good member of community.
5. Check who link your cometitors using backlink checkers like LinkVendor , Domain-pop , or Webmaster Toolkit.
6. Google name of your business to find who already talked or listed you, ask to provide link if it is not there. It works perfectly when you already listed in business review networks or local portals, many of them offer to edit information and add link, phone, address, photos etc.
7. Find the most popular related websites. Many of them have resource directory, business directory, or accept content from people who work in the industry.
8. Contribute content on industry related websites.
9. Write guest blog posts on popular blogs which cover your industry.
10. Write quality articles and submit them in the popular article directories like EzineArticles, Work, or Buzzle. Review article directory before submission to avoid network which accept articles from spammers, viagra sellers, or duplicate posts which already appeared in thousands other places.
11. Go through services you were using in the past and see if they keep testimonials page. Many companies will be happy to accept your testimonial and link your site or business.
12. Submit business in DMOZ or Lii. Links in DMOZ appear in many other sites which copy entire DMOZ index.
13. Submit your business in top local business directories, we already published list of popular local directories.
14. Create surveys on your site and publish results on a regular basis. Publishers love statistic and you can get good natural links from other blogs, press releases, and news sites.
15. Submit RSS feeds in news networks, and feed readers.
16. Use Google to find places to submit link. Type “website niche submit link”, “website niche resources”, “website niche links” etc.
17. Create “Link to us” page on your website and add easy to copy and paste links and banners.
18. Place social bookmarking buttons on your site (especially if you have a blog).
19. Find a way to create links automatically, “copy and paste” tools like loan calculator or weather widget can reappear on other sites and blogs.
20. Write content with catchy titles which people will love to link back. For example: if you offer trips to Canada you can post an article called “25 cool places to visit in Toronto.”
21. Send your company shirts, hats, mugs to bloggers and publishers.
22. Write press release and submit it in PrWeb. PrWeb will distribute release to journalists, publishers, and bloggers. Our research shows that in worst scenario your release will appear in 5-10 different website, good press release can appear in top media networks like USA Today, Yahoo News, Entrepreneur, Wicked Local, Topix etc.
23. Use ping services for your blog or RSS Feeds.
24. Use link this page tool (the same like YouTube has) for your site. For WordPress blog you can find plugin here.
25. Create affiliate program if you sell products or services online.
26. Just for fun: Send a t-shirt to Jeremy Shoemaker (www.shoemoney.com ). He will link you on Friday if you are lucky.
27. Visit Wiki websites and submit a link if you provide useful information from a website.
28. Apply your website for different contests like best design, rank websites, best content, best logo etc. Maybe you will never win, but your link will stay there.
29. There are a lot of networks where you can tag your own and other websites, some of them are similar to social bookmarking sites. Read what Andy Beard teach about tagging.
30. Reciprocal link directory on your own site can work if you approve only related and quality submissions. Don’t just exchange links with everyone else.
31. Content or award program will bring more backlinks to your website especially from forums and blogs. Just spread the world that you will pay $100 to the most active user or give $20 gift card to person who can create the best logo for your new program or special.
32. Start to accept guest posts or article on your site from writers, freelancers, or even students (who need extra credit or internship). Writers link their own articles from social sites and profiles all the time.
33. Almost everyone you know use Facebook, LiveJournal, MySpace, LinkedIn etc. Ask them to link your site. You will be surprised to find how many people you know have a website or blog.
34. Build .gov, .mil, . edu links. To find this websites you can type on Google: “site:.edu your site keyword”. For our site it would be “site:.edu advertising”. See if there are any way to suggest resources or contact person who manage pages.
35. Visit social sites where people share knowledge (Kasamba, Yahoo Answers, 43Things etc). Submit your link only when it benefits others..
36. Create a podcast. There are millions places online where you can tell about your podcast, promote, and link it. How to make podcast?
37. Create new feature on your site: marketplace, forum, blog, classifieds, tools, etc. Every new service on your website will give you a chance to build even more links.
38. Link your own Alexa profile or Compete page. By linking this networks you can make Google and other search engines index profile page with link back to your site.
39. Always link your own profiles in social networks. Some social sites contain billions pages and it is hard for search engines to find and index all of them.

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